Shift Left. Test Earlier in the Life Cycle.

摘要

To achieve the outcomes of Better Buying Power (BBP) and deploy improved capability to our warfighters in an effective and timely manner, we have to get the development right and verify it through rigorous developmental test and evaluation (DT&E) before we commit to production. In other words, we have to Shift Left. We have to change the paradigm that encourages testing late in the acquisition life cycle. Our acquisition process has some important test and evaluation (T&E) activities occurring after the decision to begin production. Why does this matter. In short, testing late means finding problems late, when it is most costly to fix. Late discovery then leads either to delayed deployment--or to accepting and fielding the system, where our warfighters will bear the burden of the development shortcoming. The Shift Left initiative fundamentally is about improving DT&E to set the conditions for successful production and deployment. Shift Left achieves this goal through earlier identification and correction of failure modes, thereby avoiding the high costs of late cycle repair and reducing the impact to our warfighters of fielding capabilities that do not satisfy requirements.